Jun 19, 2013

ALL ABOUT BEING DALE!

Hi everyone welcome to the first interview from our 'SPOTflight Series' which are a little look into the lives of some of our fabulous Sissy Sparrows followers. We get a fab insight into their motivations, influences and favourite Sissy Sparrows products.

This month we are having a conversation with the wonderful

Dale Bradshaw Botha

...most of you would know her as Dale in digiland!

So grab a coffee and discover more about this gorgeous lady!

1: What program are you using to create your projects
and if you are a keen photographer what camera do you use?

I use PSCS5, am completely self-taught and
absolutely fell in love with digi work from the get go!

I love photography, but sadly do not have
enough spare time to devote to it right now. I have a Canon DSLR and 5 lenses.
Am totally in love with my Canon 100mm Macro Lens and my 10mm-20mm Sigma Wide
Angle Lens. Both lenses allow you to be very creative!

2: Can you share a little bit about yourself?

I
live on the East Coast of South Africa near Durban

I
have two daughters and a son and three beautiful grandsons!

Sport
has always been a big part of my life (especially at school) and I still keep
fit by exercising at least 5 or 6 times a week. Running (road and trail),
cycling, hiking,and weight training all feature in my training schedule.

In
2009 I climbed Kilimanjaro, the highest free-standing mountain in the world and
in October 2013 I am heading to Nepal for a 19 day trek to Everest basecamp! It is
all very exciting but training takes up a big chunk of my day!

Chilli
hot food is a favourite and I often throw chillies into my salad for lunch!

I
am an avid reader and try to read for at least half an hour before going to
sleep. Medical/murder/mysteries and non-fiction are definitely favourites. I
have always wanted to be able to get inside the head of a serial killer to try
and understand what makes him/her do what he/she does.

Although
I enjoy watching movies, I seldom go out to see one that is on the circuit.
About two years ago I decided not to have TV in my home as it just distracted
me and ate away at my productive and creative time. I have not missed it at
all!!

Creativity
has been part of my life from when I was very young. My Mum was creative and
was definitely instrumental in channelling me down the creative path. My father
however would not let me study Art at University as he was afraid I would end
up “like a hippie drug-addict”!!! Mmmmm It took me many years to forgive him
for that, but one thing he could not take away was my passion for colour,
design and art in general.

I did study Calligraphy for three years and
absolutely loved the process, of letter construction. Studying each hand and
working out how letters were formed was always very interesting to me. Those
Monks were very talented and they could manipulate a quill pen as easily as
blinking an eye!

3: Have you always been a digital art journaler/scrapbooker
or was it a gradual progression into this form of self-expression?

I only started digi art and art journaling
towards the end of 2010 when my daughter and her family emigrated to the Gold
Coast of Australia! I joined Tangie and her Art Journal Caravan in an attempt
to keep me busy and distracted as the pain of them leaving was unbearable. Have
to say it took me 6 months to post my first layout..... and then I got stuck in
and have not looked back! While learning how to journal, I also had to learn how
to use Photoshop! Talk about diving in the deep end!!!

Self expression, especially publically does
not come easy to me so this was also testing my courage! Gesso is wonderful
stuff & helps me cover up those bits that I need to journal, but am not
comfortable with others reading!

4: Where do you find inspiration and what is your
process in creating a page or art journal entry?

Inspiration initially came from Workshop prompts,
but with practise I learned to scan a kit and choose one or two elements that “spoke”
to me, using them as my starting block! This did not necessarily mean that they
remained on my layout..... it is merely a way of starting, and then allows my
natural creativity to take over and new ideas evolve!

I have always collected quotations that I
connected with and these I have often used as either the inspiration for a page
or as the final touch to a page.

Life itself also provides tons of inspiration
for an art journal page. Keep a book called “Journaling Inspiration” in which
you record any idea, quotation or colour that may come to you while you are
away from your digi stuff!

I am not a traditional scrapper at all and
love grunge and colour and lots of layers! Blending many layers to achieve a
look is a time stealer, but so worth the effort in the end!

I think most of us fear that blank
canvas....we don’t know where to start.... we don’t know what to do! All I can
say is pick a couple of elements or backgrounds or words..... slap them all on
your background and start playing with them. This will be akin to a runner
warming up before a race. Never be afraid to start, it is after all your
journal, your art, your story!

Art Journaling is just the best because there
are no rules! How awesome is that!

5: What is your favourite 'Sissy Sparrow' product/kit include a short description as to why you
like it?

My favourite Sissy Sparrow kits have to be the Room 19 Project kits. What amazing value they are for starters and one is never short of inspiration when confronted with the many elements, papers and word art for art journaling.

I am also a huge fan of The Painted Nest Challenge and the variety of pages created always amazes me.

Here are a couple of Dale's beautiful pages.

Dale has a talent for blending layers which add intrigue and depth to her projects.